Ke Huy Quan Lost His Health Insurance While Waiting for His Award-Winning Comeback Film to Be Released

Actor Ke Huy Quan will always be known for his roles in the beloved classics The Goonies and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, but his epic return to film this past year looks like it might go down as his greatest accomplishment yet. The actor had quit acting for a couple of decades, feeling that there were no great roles for Asian actors. But he was inspired by Michelle Yeoh, and he decided to get back in the game. Meanwhile, at the same time he was contacting his agent, the directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, aka The Daniels, were building their cast for their sci-fi adventure film, Everything Everywhere All At Once, and they remembered Ke Huy Quan from his childhood acting gigs. They reached out to his representation, and the rest is history.

Quan has now won the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards for his performance in Everything Everywhere All At Once, and is nominated for the Oscar. But it was a pretty tough wait between making the film and getting here.

The movie was filmed back in January of 2020, and in March, the industry shut down with the rest of the world, and we didn’t get to see the movie until March 2022. This two-year wait was difficult for Quan, who threw himself back into acting, but didn’t have the recent resume to get another job in the meantime.

During a recent interview on The Late Late Show, Quan said he spent the pandemic “at home trying to stay safe like everybody.” But he was also “so nervous” because no other acting offers were coming in since his comeback role in Everything Everywhere was being held for release for so long. He explained:

“I was about to lose my health insurance. So, I called my agent and I said, ‘Can you please get me anything? It doesn’t matter, I just need one job to make the minimum requirement so I can qualify for health insurance the following year.’ And I could not get one single job. Sure enough, 2021 came and went [and I] lost my health insurance.”

After losing his health insurance, Quan realized the rest of his career and livelihood rested on the strength of Everything Everywhere All at Once. He called a producer on the film and asked: “Can you please tell me one thing? Am I good in the movie?” When the producer questioned why Quan would ask that, the actor told him the truth: “Well, nobody wants to hire me.” 

“[The producer said], ‘Ke, Just be patient. You just wait,'” Quan said. “The movie came out in March of last year and my life has changed.”

Quan’s life really has changed. Not only is he an Oscar frontrunner, but he’s also got a new role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe courtesy of Loki Season 2. He previously talked about getting the call from Kevin Feige himself.

He is also reuniting with his co-star Michelle Yeoh in the Disney series American Born Chinese, and is also starring in the Russo Bros.’ ensemble action drama, The Electric State.

Whether Quan gets the Oscar or not next Sunday (I hope he does, and I think he will), he has definitely proved that he has a place back in Hollywood. I can’t wait to see what other projects he chooses.